Dream Dance
by ExpectoPotato
Summary: Ever since he was little, Eren has been bothered by recurring dreams. His parents tell him they're figments of his imagination, but eren think they're real memories – his subconscious way of trying to tell him something. But just who is the grey-eyed person in his dreams, and what is his relationship with Eren? And why can Eren never recall his face, no matter how hard he tries?
1. Prologue

Hiya!

sooo, this story has been nagging at me for a few days now. I'm still not clear on exactly where I want it to go, but I'm quite happy with how the first part turned out, so hopefully the next will be out within a week (i hope).

anything else you should know...? oh, yeah, this is a magic au, almost everything is different from the manga/anime. And the rating might (probably will) be raised later on(yeah, don't pretend that didn't make you pay attention:p)

soo... hope you enjoy!:D

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Dream Dance

By ExpectoPotato

Prologue

_My first memory if from when I was five years old. _

_Don't ask me how I know I was exactly five, but I do. I was five, and it was dark, and warm. Someone was carrying me, and the motion was rocking my heavy body further into sleep. I was held against his chest, wrapped inside his cloak – yes I know no-one have worn cloaks for the past century and a half – like if he wanted to keep me hidden from view. _

_I felt comfortably sleepy, and safe. Content. I was not bothered by where we were going, or why, at that time of night. I wasn't alone. There was nothing to worry about. _

_Suddenly there was noise, and light. A door opening. I was brought out from my warm cocoon, and passed to a new set of hands. Unfamiliar hands. _

_I screamed._

_They tried rocking me, cooing in calming voices._

_I screamed louder._

"_Oh, be quiet you brat"._

_I stopped screaming. _

_A small smile ghosted over his face. Reaching out, he touched my cheek, and I reached towards him, demandingly expecting to be taken back from this person I didn't know. But he only leaned forward, and pressed his lips against my forehead. I remember eyes, grey and shining like lightning, and glossy with repressed tears. _

"_Sleep well, brat"._

_And then everything goes black. _

Eren Jaeger shot upright, jolted awake by the blaring alarm held half an inch from his ear. Disoriented, his eyes locked on his smugly grinning sister, standing next to the bed with the alarm in hand.

"Mikasa!" he yelled, attempting to tackle her and ending up face-planting as Mikasa neatly sidestepped.

"Wakey wakey little brother" she sing-songed. "Armin will be here in fifteen minutes".

"Then you could've let me sleep for another ten," Eren complained.

Mikasa only rolled her eyes, not deigning to reply, and walked out of the room.

Eren sat still for a moment, trying to calm his racing heart from the less-than-peaceful wakeup-call.

_That dream again._

Ever since he was little, he'd had that dream every few weeks.

When he was little, his mother had told him, he used to wake up, crying, and go to her bed, and ask her where "him with the grey eyes" was. His family laughed about it now, about the way Eren used to think meaningless dreams were real. And Eren laughed along, ignoring the thorny feeling in his throat.

For the past three years, he had kept a dream diary, painstakingly noting every little detail he could remember about the dream -_my clothes felt scratchy, the room had green walls- _but no matter how hard he tried, he could never remember what he truly wanted to know. He could never remember his face. He knew he saw it, in the dream, knew he saw him smile, but as soon as he woke up, it slipped away, disintegrated like morning fog in sunlight. Only the eyes remained.

_It's not a dream. It's real. It's a memory. And one day I'll find out what it is you don't want me to remember._

* * *

okay so I just want to say that I know that Mikasa is a bit ooc here, and well, I kind of did that on purpose. Personally, I don't mind if the characters personalities are tweaked a bit as long as the character still works as a whole. That said, expect some sassy Mikasa in this fic, i guess xD

*stage whisper* also please tell me what you think?


	2. Chapter 1

Hello again!:D

Right, so first I just wanna say thank you to who has reviewed, followed or favourited this story. I would give you all big, squishy hugs if I could! Your support means the world!:D

eve: haha, thank you, I will try to complete it, I have basically no idea where it's going right now *help*

The firt part in italics is not a dream this time, it's more to signify that it's happening someplace far away:)

also, quick note: I might be changing my username soon, so if you don't have an ffnet account, you might want to make sure you remember the name of the fic, so you can find it again:)

Hope you enjoy!

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Dream Dance

By ExpectoPotato

Chapter 1

_A man stood by a window, the pale early morning light painting his brow and making him squint. His hands were bracing against the windowsill, forehead leaning against the pane of glass, as he watched the sunrise. Like if he was imagining falling right through the glass._

_The sound of a door opening disturbed the hushed silence. Heels rapped smartly against the stone floor, as the intruder approached._

"_My lord", said a respectful voice._

"_What is it Petra?" he responded, not moving from his pose. His words fogged up the window._

"_It's about the boy. Hanji reports that there have been some some signs of unusual activity in the neighbourhood"._

_At that, the man stood up straight._

"_Signs? Not from him, then?"_

"_Could be, but Hanji says she's uncertain. She says the magical frequency feels... unfamiliar"._

_The mans eyes hardened, suddenly resembling daggers of ice. He nodded._

"_Tell Hanji to keep extra careful watch. I want her to keep tabs on him twentyfour-seven until these signs either go away or are confirmed to be coming from a harmless source"._

_The woman saluted, snapping her heels together gallantly._

"_Yes, sir!"_

_She turned to relay the orders._

"_Oh, and Petra?"_

"_Yes, m'lord?"_

"_Enough with the saluting. It's too early in the morning for that shit. _

_The corners of her mouth twitched, holdning back a smile._

"_As you like, my lord", she said somberly. "I can always bow instead"._

_Her snickering chuckles could be heard echoing through the corridors as she slunk out of the room._

Eren scanned the crowded cafeteria as quickly as he could, searching for a familiar face. His eyes zoomed in on blonde hair, shining golden in the sunlight streaming in from the high windows.

"Hey", Eren said as he dropped into his seat, startling Armin from the heavy tome next to his plate.

"Hey. How was history?"

"It was..."

Eren paused for a moment to come up with a synonym for slow and coma-inducing.

"Stupourous", he finally decided. For as long as he could remember, he and Armin had had a kind of word game, where the winner was the one that used the most creative words to describe his class.

Armin frowned.

"Come on, you can do better".

"Fine. It was obtusely stagnant".

Armin nodded, satisfied.

"That's better".

Eren smirked.

"Your turn".

"Mine was... enthrallingly supreme".

"Did you look that up before coming here?"

Armin grinned, slightly smug.

"I hate you".

"I had that dream again".

Armin perked up.

"Really? Anything new?"

Eren shook his head, frustrated.

"It's like...like every time I try to focus, it slips away. Like when you've looking for a word, and you know it's _right there_, on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't remember what it is..."

Armin had that little furrow between his brows that meant he was thinking hard about something, the little gears in his mind spinning with dizzying speed.

"Maybe you should just stop trying to remember. If the reason you've forgotten is because of some childhood trauma, then you will probably remember by yourself, when you're ready".

"In that case, why am I having these dreams now? Why do I remember everything but his face?"

Eren ruffled his permament bed-head, making it stand up like the quills of a porqupine. Armin held up his hands in a placating gesture.

"Eren, I don't know. I'm just trying to come up with theories here, you know".

"Yeah", Eren mumbled, ashamed at having lashed out at his friend.

"have you asked you parents?"

"Too many times to count. They always say it's just random dreams with no meaning. That I have an overactive imagination, or something. But... these looks they give each other when they think I'm not watching. Feels like they're hiding something."

Armin slurped thoughtfully at the straw of his juice for a moment.

"Well, you're adopted. Maybe he's your biological brother, or something, and they don't want you to get in touch. Maybe he's a mafia boss or something".

"No," Eren said sharply. "We're not related".

Armin blinked, surprised at the retort. He opened his mouth, and then closed it again, a knowing look entering his eyes.

"What?"

"Eren, do you have a crush on him?" he asked bluntly, a grin forming on his face.

Eren spluttered.

"No, of course no-"

"Do too! You do too!" Armin nearly yelled, a shit-eating grin splitting his face in half.

"Who does Eren have a crush on?" a voice suddenly inquered, needle sharp and silky as poison.

"M-mikasa" Armin stuttered, quivering under the look she gave him. "Annie... eh... no-one... we were just... Eren was helping me rehearse for my play next week!"

Erens forehead hit the table. Armin, bless his soul, was the smartest person in the entire school, but, he could be an absolute idiot in matters requiring a mesure of sneakiness.

Mikasas eyes narrowed to slits.

She slammed her lunch down on the table. Annie, her best frenemy, took the seat next to her a shade more sedately.

"Eren. Who do you have a crush on?"

Eren only sighted.

"Is it that senior? Kim, or whatever his name is?"

"Kevin" Annie supplied, sounding completely bored.

"Kevin! Right, that's it!"

"Who, the jock? Christ Mikasa, give me some credit".

"That new french teacher then? The young one?" Mikasa persisted.

"The one with the moustache?"

"Yeah".

"He looks like a pedophile".

"Armin" Annie said suddenly, cutting across whatever it was that Mikasa was going to say. "Why is your bag moving?"

"SHHH!"

From inside the bag, came a small, affronted miaow.

"It's a cat" Eren stated, torn between laughing and crying.

"It's a kitty" Armin defended. "It's been abandoned by its mother, it's homeless".

"It's a stray devil-kitty" Ereen said, peering closer. "Look, it's got red eyes".

"It's an albino. It was shunned by it's family because it's different".

"That is definitely a devil-cat" Annie agreed.

It was after school. Armin had bolted from the cafeteria when the kitty started miaow-ing, and earning them odd looks from nearby tables. Eren hadn't been able to catch him between lessons since then.

"Where did you find him?" Mikasa asked.

"On my way to school. She followed me for like two blocks."

"Because you kept stopping to pet her?"

"No! only... once. Or maybe twice."

Eren couldn't help laughing. It was just so typical _Armin_. He just had to pick up all the defenceless strays.

Armin grinned too, a little abashed.

"I'll put up is-this-your-kitty notes. If there's someone missing her."

"Sure you will", Eren laughed and ruffled his friend's hair.

Mikasa and Annie were heading straight for practise, and said goodbye by the school-gates.

Eren and Armin began walking home, putting the kitten down to trot beside them when they were out of sight of the school. She wound pack and forth between their legs as they walked, so much that Eren was scared he would step on her.

"Eren" Armin said suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Do you... I mean... that dream..."

He stopped, chewing uncertainly on his lip. He seemed to be debating how to say something.

"What about it?"

"How... how do you feel when you think about... that person from your dream?"

Eren stopped and frowned, not certain what Armin was getting at.

"I don't know... in my dream, I feel really safe, and I don't know. Happy. Content, I guess. But when I think about him like this, when I'm awake, I feel frustrated. Kind of lost. Or not lost, not really, but like I've lost something, something important, but I can't remember what it is".

"Kind of longing?"

Armins voice was cautious. Eren nodded.

"Yeah, a bit".

Armin remained silent, mulling over that for a while.

"What are you thinking?" Eren asked, used to having to drag things out of his friend sometimes.

"I'm thinking", Armin began, and then he stopped. He looked Eren straight in the eye, suddenly resolute.

"Can I be frank?"

"Of course", Eren said, puzzled.

"Eren, this... dream of yours... your obsession with this dream, I've always thought it was a bit weird. Strange, but harmless. I mean, it's interesting, from a scientific point of view. But i've always thought your obsession came from figuring out what it meant, what happened, why did your brain suppressed that memory... but if it's because of this person..."

"It's not!" Eren interrupted harshly. "Not... not only, it's all those other things you said as well".

Armin seemeded unconvinced.

"Eren, you...You don't know if he's real! You can't have those feelings for someone who might be a figment of your imagination!"

"He's not!"

Eren was breathing unevenly. He felt like there was a great, iron wheight lying on top of his lungs, making him struggle to draw breath.

"He's not", he repeated, calmer.

Armin watched him the same way one might watch a wild, cornered animal.

"I'm... I'm just worried about you", he said faintly.

"Well, don't be!"

_Black hair, shiny and silky-soft._

Eren stumbled_._

"Eren... you okay?"

"I'm fine! Everyone doesn't need your mothering, Armin". Eren stalked off, not looking back to see the wounded expression on his friend's face.

_Black hair. Does he have black hair?_

Later that night, Eren was lying in bed, staring up at his celing. He should be doing homework. He should be doing the dishes he had promised his parents he would take care of, while they were out celebrating their anniversary. He should be doing a million things. But instead, he lay in bed, listening to the quiet. Armin's words replayed in his head.

_...your obsession with this dream..._

Even Mikasa was gone to swim-practice.

_..bit weird..._

The house was entirely silent.

_...worried about you..._

He could hear crickets chirping.

_...what it meant..._

Some kind of birds were twittering outside his window.

_...kind of longing?_

Maybe the birds would eat the crickets.

_You dont know if he's real!_

"Are you having cramps?"A voice suddenly inquired.

Eren shot up so quickly he fell out of bed. He looked around him wildly. There was no one there. No one in his room, and his bedroom door had remained closed. Maybe someone had changed his text alert as a prank... No. No new texts or missed calls. Then what...

"I'm over here", the voice informed lazily. Eren jumped... and saw a small, white kitty on his windowsill. Armin's kitty. The devil-kitty. Lying next to his open window, which, Eren was certain, had been closed two minutes ago.

"So are you?"

"A-am I what?" Eren said uncomprehendingly.

"Having cramps?"

"No".

"Really? You made a face like you were".

"I'm a boy" Eren said dumbly.

The kitty raised his eyebrows and sneered – how could a kitten sneer, Eren wondered with some distant part of his mind – haughtily, and replied: "Yes, I can see that". He muttered under his breath "Really, all this fuzz over one village idiot..."

Eren shook his head, not trying to understand what the kitty was grumbling about. This didn't make sense. Talking cats didn't make sense. Maybe he was dreaming. Maybe he knew something about his dream. He should ask.

"Do you know who he is? The man from my dream? He said, interrupting a muttered tirade. The kitty quirked his eyebrows again.

"Boy, I don't know who you might be dreaming about..."

"He has grey eyes, and shiny black hair... I think".

"You think? That doesn't give me a whole lot to go on, boy". The kitten flopped down lazily on the windowsill, fixing Eren with his blood-red gaze.

Eren slumped.

"However" it continued, "there is a certain someone who does come to mind".

"What? Who?"

"I'll tell you for a price".

"What? I don't have much money, but..."

"A belly rub".

Eren stared.

"Pardon?"

The kitten stared at him lazily.

"Don't you know english? I said I'll tell you for a belly rub".

_This is crazy,_ Eren thought as he slowly got up and approached the cat._ I must be dreaming._

He stretched his hand out gingerly, like if he was expecting the cat to bite him. But it only rolled over, exposing its soft, furry belly, and let Eren scratch him. It purred.

"Ooh, a little to the left, a little to the left..."

Eren scratched a little to the left.

"Yes there... perrrrfect" it purred.

"So who is he?"

The cat yawned, and rolled elegantly to its feet (or paws, Eren supposed).

"Come on, I'll take you".

"You'll take me to see him? Right now?"

"Yes, yes. I was told to bring you with me anyway. I'm sure you'll see him some time during your stay".

"...who told you to bring me?"

"My master. It appears he would like to have a chat with you". The look he gave Eren then oozed disdain.

"Though I cannot imagine why he would desire that doubtful pleasure. But enough about that. We are already late. Let us be on our way".

And with that, the kitten jumped out the window.

* * *

Soo, how was that? constructive critique welcome!

Also, I'm thinking friday as an update day, how does that sound?

see ya next time!:)


	3. Chapter 2

Hello there!

First of all, a huge thank you to anyone who has reviewed, followed or favourited this story, it makes my day every time! *virtual hugs and cuddles*

so, this is a shortish chapter, there was about a page more but I ended up deleting it because it messed with the pacing. hopefully next will be longer, I think it will have less action, and can focus more on thoughts and feelings, and so on;)

nothing more to say, except I'm sorry it has taken so (very) long.

Enjoy!;D

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"Is this it?" Eren asked doubtfully, glancing around him. They had been walking for ages, it seemed like, and had finally ended up in a run-down part of town, full of narrow alleys with broken street-lights and smelling sour like human waste. Crushed glass glittered coldly on the pavement.

"Your boss wants to meet me here?" Eren ambled after the cat. "Are you sure?"

"Not here, exactly. But we'll be there soon."

_Great._ Eren shivered, and hugged himself, absently watching the cat trotting ahead. He supposed he should be feeling a little worried by now. He knew nothing about this person he was supposed to meet, after all, or what they wanted with him. But he couldn't bring himself to care. The night had taken a surreal turn from the moment the cat showed up in his room, and he felt like if he was wandering around inside a dream. Distant, like nothing was real. Thinking back, he couldn't even say how long he'd been out... it could have been half an hour, it could have been three. It all blended together in one long lybrinth of alleyways and abandoned streets.

_Maybe I'm actually sleeping. _He giggled at the thought.

_Oh well, I've never been inside a dream before, I might as well enjoy myself while i'm here...though I should have left a longer note for Mikasa, she'll be worried if I don't wake up soon..._

"We're here," the cat announced, breaking his disjointed train of thought.

"Here" turned out to be an old brick building, windows broken and taped with yellowed papers from the inside.

"Here?" Eren said dreamily. Something poked at him from the back of his mind, telling him something was odd, but he couldn't tell why. _This is fine, isn't it?_

The cat didn't answer. Instead, it pawed at the red door, and it swung open, completely silently. Once again, that little voice poked at him, but Eren shushed it.

The cat disappeared inside, and a moment later, Eren stepped through the door.

The door closed behing him with a mighty _bang, _and the sound suddenly snapped Eren out of the trance.

He jumped, and blinked. _What the hell just happened?_

Looking around, he blinked again, trying to get used to the lack of light.

He was in a large, cave-like room, with a cluster of round tables in the middle. White table-clothes fluttered ghost-like in the draft, high backed chairs standing stiffly at attention beside them. The only illumination came from a row of grimy, square windows set in the celing, bathing the center of the room in a dim light. The rest of the large space seemed to be completely empty, the corners of the room hidden in shadow.

There was no-one there.

"Hello," Eren called hesitantly, looking around for his furry guide. There was no answer. Walking farther into the room, he squinted into the corners, but he couldn't make out any shapes. The light from the overcast evening sky didn't reach that far.

Eren shuddered. What was this place? He was starting to feel increasingly uneasy. It wasn't just the fact that it was empty, or looked like no-one had stepped walked in here in forever. It was the sense that this place had never been used, that no-one knew it existed. Like something invented in a dream, and when the dreamer woke, and forgot about the dream, it remained behind.

_Something that doesn't really exist._

The thought settled like a lump of cold ice in his stomach, and Eren took a step back. He had to get out of there. He felt like the sense of that place, its very essence, was trying to seep into his skin, make him as not-real as it was, make him as forgotten, as empty.

_Forget it. This was stupid, what was I even think..._

A movement in the corner of his eye. Eren turned, and stood still. Suddenly his heart was pounding a mile a minute, and his hands felt cold with sweat. He couldn't see anything. There was no-one...

his eyes narrowed. There was something odd about the back wall.

Weaving between the group of tables, he stopped before the wall, and put his hand out. Cold, smooth. Glass. The wall was made of glass. The movement was the reflection of himself moving.

Eren laughed shakily, slightly giddy with relief. He wondered what was behind the wall? An office? A seperate bar space? Or maybe...

Something moved behind the glass.

_I'm standing stock-still. It can't be my reflection..._

It moved again, closer this time. Eren pressed his hands against the glass, trying to block out the reflections, and held his breath, so he wouldn't fog the glass.

Where was it? What was it? it... _there._

It was large. And it moved strangely, fluently. Like if it was swimming, Eren realized. It was an aquarium. A huge aquarium, spanning the whole wall. It has to be some kind of whale, he thought excitedly, wiping at the glass.

_It's so huge..._

He didn't even have time to scream. He felt himself falling. Icy water everywhere, and dark like the sunless bottom of an ocean. And that thing swimming closer, closer, and he was still falling, no, he was being _sucked down _to the bottom, face-first, something cold down there, burning cold...

Eren screamed, and felt the water enter his lungs.

Erem came awake slowly, like a bubble floating to the surface of a lake.

First came the cold. Then the unyielding hardness of the floor. For a moment he lay still, soaring in a sort of careless oblivion. He opened his eyes.

_Where am i?_ He wondered supinely. The thought echoed hollowly within his mind. Then:

_Wait, where the fuck am I?_

He sat up so fast his head started spinning. Everything came back in a rush, the cat, the aquarium, he couldn't breathe, he was drowning... except he wasn't. He was lying next to the fish-tank, completely dry and so cold his bones ached, but very much alive.

_Was it just a dream? Did I faint and make it all up in my head?_

" So, you're finally awake."

Eren jumped. There was a man there, sitting in a heavy, throne-like chair (_was that there before, _Eren wondered distractedly_)_and peering at him over steepled fingers. The man smiled stiffly, his lips bending like if they were about to crack from the movement.

"Eren. You've grown."

Eren's heart jumped into his throat. Was he... no, he wasn't. His eyes were a pale, washed-out blue, not grey, and his voice was dry like sandpaper, and he was _not _the person Eren wanted to see.

"Who are you?" he wondered, disappointment bleeding into his voice. He couldn't bring himself to care.

"The person who requested to see you. You may call me Grisha, if you like."

_If I like? Does that mean it's not his real name?_

Eren nodded, and stood up.

"Why did you want to see me?"

Then he frowned, remembering the comment about his height.

"Wait, do you know me?"

Grisha tilted his head to the side, his smile growing lopsided, like he was enjoying some joke that Eren wasn't privy to.

"I wouldn't say I know you exactly... it was a long time ago, and I would wager you do not remember, but yes... we have indeed met before."

"Oh."

Eren didn't know what to say. He felt faintly embarrased that the he didn't recognize the man, but on the other hand, Grisha didn't seem to care.

The silence settled over them. Eren squirmed, waiting for Grisha to tell him why he was there, but Grisha only stared at him with a strange look on his face. Almost... greedy, but not in a lustful way, but more like... a tool, perhaps, a plaything he couldn't wait to put to the test. Eren swallowed.

_Stop it, you're being ridiculous._

"So, why did you want to see me?"

His voice sounded very thin and small in the large, empty room.

Gisha blinked, and shook himself, like if waking up from a daydream.

"Right you are, down to business, we don't have much time after all."

He stood up, and walked slowly towards Eren.

"You see Eren, there is something I would like you to do for me... a favor, if you will."

He stopped hardly a foot in front of Eren, seemingly not having noticed that Eren had backed straight into the glass wall, or simply not caring. He raised his hands, and placed them at Erens temples.

"This might tickle a bit."

It didn't tickle. It didn't even hurt. That wasn't an intense enough word to describe it. It felt like a bolt of lightning had passed right through his head, making it glow white-hot and burn ice-cold.

Eren didn't even notice when he fell to his knees, clutching his head like it was about to crack in two, but he would find the purplish bruises later to prove it. Distantly, he heard himself gasping for breath.

"Yes," Grisha was mumbling, staring at his hands. "Yes, that will do very nice _indeed"._

He was smiling now, a truly manical smile, threathening to split his face in half.

"Yes, yes, we must begin immeadiately, no time to lose..."

He strode away to his throne, snatching up the hat hanging from the armrest and putting it on back-to-front, shrugging an arm haphazerdly into an overcoat, all the while mumbling "yes, perfect, _perfect, _indeed, must hurry-"

"In a rush, are we?" an disembodied voice drawled.

Grisha whipped around.

"You," he stated in a voice deceptively void of anger.

"Me, indeed."

The voice almost seemed to echo across the room, coming from all sides at once. Eren frowned. Where was he?

"I guess I should have known. Skulking around in the shadows like the rat you are, huh? Show yourself!"

"If you insist."

The smooth, flat voice carried a hint of scorn. Eren's heart started beating faster. _That voice..._

For a moment everything was silent.

Then, Eren nearly screamed as a person appeared not two feet away. He looked up, and promptly forgot to breathe.

_Pale skin, black shiny hair, and eyes as gray as the sea before a storm. Eyes that was currently glaring at him with all the warmth of siberia in the dead of winter._

He'd found him.

* * *

And there you have it! considering writing a part as Levi's pov next chap, or maybe chap after next xD thoughts?

feel free if to tell me if you have any thoughts or ideas, and I'll take them into consideration! or if you happen to spot a spelling mistake or whatever:p

until next time, be safe!*hugsss* 333


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